Fmr. mayor on city’s politics by process

Former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer offers thoughts on the city’s process-driven political system on the local public affairs website, Crosscut.com.

Some excerpts:

One area where the pace has not picked up is how we make decisions. Well, we’re pretty big here on participation, on process. We have a nine-member, full-time, very-well-paid, very-well-staffed City Council, and a “strong mayor” form of government. The council is still elected at large, each member representing the whole city, just as the mayor does, so we sometimes call it the ten-mayor form of government.

Our system of government, giving lots of people veto rights, makes it harder, requiring enormous tenacity that is not always in ample supply. The questions just get tougher as we get bigger. How can we keep quality air and water and sustain an economy without fixing transportation and sprawl? What must we do if we are to live together in our increasing density and diversity?